Arriving in a field of leafless small shrubs, for miles there are just parts of plants ready to start growing once the warm weather returns. The large group of people, who were kicking off the event, formed a circle to outline the task for the next two hours. The level of determination could be easily seen on their faces.
Sandhill cranes could be heard, a comfortable breeze passing through, and the sound of a fire could be heard over the friendly talks. With 67 people using long handled, prune-like plant cutters, called loppers, people began cutting the woody shrubs to restore the sight of the prairie grass.
Through the coordination across the departments, on Saturday, March 8,2025, 21 students and four professors attended the Gensburg-Markham Prairie kickoff event. Majority of the students were with either Ecology or Biology, however there were a few students who came from other STEM-based programs.
At this event, all volunteers worked to cut Black Chokeberry, a woody plant that, in the Gensburg-Markham Prairie, is taking over the area. As NEIU Ecology student Gail Bencsik said about cutting the Black Chokeberry, “It allows the plants that are underneath these woody species and invasive species to grow. Otherwise, if we didn’t cut them down, then these plants wouldn’t have a chance. And that’s what the prairie is all about.” Since the Chokeberry plants are taller and more established, controlled burns do not harm the plant enough to kill them. In fact, the Chokeberry prevents healthy controlled burns through their density.
With the help of the volunteers with Friends of the Illinois Nature Preserves and The Peregrines, both groups helped guide the process of cutting the Chokeberry, controlling the fire that was burning all the Chokeberry, and the people who were licensed from Friends of the Illinois Nature Preserve applied herbicides.
Anyone can help out in nature. In fact, there are plenty of ways to directly get involved. The Peregrines, one of the organizations that helped out offers a ride-sharing system for people to encourage others to help. The Cook County Forest Preserves also offers opportunities to help out in forest preserves closer to NEIU’s main campus.
The picture above truly shows the difference all the volunteers made. Going from a short but woody area to having areas that will allow the prairie plants to grow. And with additional events, the Gensburg-Markham Prairie will continue to grow stronger and healthier.
